News

The Hydrotox Team is happy to host the "JUCOET - The Youth Organization of the GDCh Division of Environmental Chemistry & Ecotoxicology" in our lab on 25 June 2025

With rich participation of the DR. BRILL INSTITUTES Group, the SETAC Europe Annual Meeting will take place in Vienna from May 11-15, 2025 - under the overall theme “Innovation for Tomorrow: Progress in Safe and Sustainable Concepts.” For our part, Dr. Brill Regulatory Services GmbH and Hydrotox GmbH are both involved, both in terms of personnel and content - and for the first time even with their own exhibition stand!

Our commitment in detail:

Session 6.07: “Environmental Risk Assessment under Biocides and other EU legislations” with presentation by Heike Schimmelpfennig, Dr. Brill Regulatory Services GmbH, on “Comparison of Environmental Exposure Assessment Strategies across Different EU Legislation”
Chair: Andrea Brunswik-Titze, Hydrotox GmbH
Co-chair: Aiga Latsone, ECHA, Heike Schimmelpfennig, Dr. Brill Regulatory Services GmbH

Poster contributions from Hydrotox GmbH:

• Elena Perabo, Dr. Christoph Hafner:
  "Sustainable green roofs for the implementation of the sponge city: Determination of ecotoxicologically safe construction products for green roofs"
• Andrea Brunswik-Titze, Stefan Gartiser:
  "Consolidation of OECD tests for ready biodegradability on the example of OECD 310"

Exhibition booth - Booth No. 3: For the first time, Hydrotox and Dr. Brill Regulatory Services will be represented with a joint booth at the SETAC Europe Annual Meeting.

Our colleagues on site are already looking forward to welcoming a hopefully large number of our customers and, of course, potential new customers to the beautifully styled stand - Booth No. 3. If you would like to make an appointment in advance, please contact us, e.g. by email here: info@brillhygiene.com

One-day free tickets: A small number of SETAC one-day free tickets are still available at Hydrotox, which we will be happy to pass on to you. If you are interested, please contact Dr. Christoph Hafner directly by email at hafner@hydrotox.de.

Use your participation in the SETAC Europe Annual Meeting for a personal meeting with us! The following colleagues will be present in Vienna: From Dr. Brill Regulatory Services Dr. Gunnar Kleist (Director Regulatory Services) and Heike Schimmelpfennig (Senior Manager Regulatory Affairs), as well as from Hydrotox Andrea Brunswik-Titze (Team Leader and Test Leader Biodegradability), Marie Bechstein (Test Leader Biodegradability), Elene Perabo (Test Leader Ecotoxicology, Third Party Research Projects) and Dr. Christoph Hafner (Head of GLP Test Facility, Customer Support).

The SETAC Europe Annual Meeting is an annual conference of the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC) Europe that brings together scientists, policy makers and industry representatives to discuss current issues in the fields of environmental toxicology, ecotoxicology and environmental chemistry.

Main features of the conference:

• Topics: Environmental risk research, life cycle assessment, regulatory developments and scientific policy advice
• Formats: Scientific sessions, plenary lectures, training sessions and networking events
• Participants: 2,000-2,500 experts from over 60 countries

The conference serves as a platform for the exchange of new findings and promotes cooperation between research, industry and authorities.

Link: SETAC Europe 35th Annual Meeting

Our image clip about Hydrotox - Labor für Ökotoxikologie und Gewässerschutz GmbH (Laboratory for Ecotoxicology and Water Protection) has just been completed. Take a moment to find out more about the wide range of services offered by the Freiburg laboratory and get to know some of our friendly colleagues and their tasks. Let yourself be inspired - here: Hydrotox Image Clip

New research project “International ring test for the consolidation of OECD 301 tests for ready biodegradability”.

Over the next 3 years, Hydrotox GmbH will be working on the project “International ring test for the consolidation of OECD 301 tests for ready biodegradability” on behalf of the Federal Environment Agency. The aim is to develop a consolidated test design for testing ready biodegradability based on OECD 301 or 310 and to organize an international ring test with 10 GLP laboratories to validate the method. The ring test statistics are evaluated by ToxRat Solutions GmbH & Co. KG.

Dr. Brill Regulatory Service GmbH was recently integrated into the Dr. Brill Institutes. This also opens up new perspectives and synergy effects for Hydrotox.

With a real “dream team”, the Dr. Brill Institutes will in future offer customers from the industry their own regulatory service. Heike Schimmelpfennig and Dr. Gunnar Kleist, each with two decades of regulatory experience in different areas of industry and public authorities, offer a 360-degree view of chemical testing and approval of biocides (active substances and products). In conjunction with the GLP laboratory at Hydrotox, this also opens up new perspectives in the planning of tests and the evaluation of results. Further information can be found at Dr. Brill Regulatory Services GmbH.

We have the pleasure informing you that 35 years after establishing of Hydrotox – Laboratory for Ecotoxicology and Water Protection GmbH, Dr. Stefan Gartiser will retire. The business handover was carefully prepared and completed in January 2024, when Hydrotox GmbH was acquired by Dr. Brill Institutes Group based in Hamburg. The new managing director of Hydrotox GmbH is Dr. Florian H. H. Brill. Your local contact at Hydrotox remains Dr. Christoph Hafner, who is the representative of the local management and has been assigned with the respective power of attorney.

Thus, a new generation takes over at Hydrotox. However, you as our customer will not face apparent changes in the operational processes, as the entire Hydrotox team continues to support you in future with the usual trustworthiness at Freiburg.

The Dr. Brill Institutes Group is a medium-size, family-owned group of companies with the headquarter in Hamburg. The group consists of various laboratories such as the Institute for Hygiene and Microbiology and the Institute for Antifouling and Biocorrosion and employs around 70 people at various locations in Germany. By integrating Hydrotox, synergy effects are released by optimizing and streamlining processes. In addition, the Dr. Brill Institutes Group offers its customers an expanded product portfolio from a wide range of laboratory services to regulatory consulting services in the new Dr. Brill Regulatory Services GmbH. For more information, visit www.brillinstitutes.com.

We look forward continuing our successful cooperation in the future.

New research project on “Transformation and model solutions for roofs of the blue-green city”

Over the next three years, Hydrotox will be working on the ReFoPlan joint project “Implementation of the sponge city: Identification of the 10 most effective levers of the necessary transformation and sustainable model solutions for roofs of the blue-green city” on behalf of the Federal Environment Agency. Project partners are the Institute for Ecological Economy Research (IÖW, overall project management), landscape architect Prof. Dr. Manfred Köhler, the Water Technology Center (TZW) Karlsruhe and Goetz & Heintze Garten- und Landschaftsbau GmbH. Hydrotox is in charge of work package 5 “Laboratory tests” and is carrying out ecotoxicity tests on building product eluates and roof run-off water in particular.

Current publications on successfully completed UBA projects.

Recently, several final reports and publications on several projects have been published:

Further development of screening tests for the evaluation of potential PBT substances, UBA-Texte 10/2023.
Award criteria for the certification of antifouling systems with the Blue Angel,. UBA-Texts 25/2023
Methods and criteria for assessing the ecotoxicity of products, UBA-Texts 151/2022, see also UBA topic page on construction products with specialist publications. 
The authors and the laboratory team are delighted with the successful completion of the projects, which have been ongoing for several years.

You will find an update on the testing strategy for microplastics for biodegradability on our homepage.

New research project for the certification of biocide-free antifouling systems with the Blue Angel

On behalf of the Federal Environment Agency, Hydrotox and the Institute for Antifouling and Biocorrosion at Dr. Brill + Partner GmbH will be working on a further research project from September 2019 to August 2021, in which award criteria for 1 to 2 environmental labels (Blue Angel) for biocide-free antifouling products will be developed.